Leftfield be will as loud as ever at this weekend’s L.E.D Festival

One of the most exciting things to happen this year was the announcement that Leftfield were to return. Neil Barnes spoke to Kara Simsek about why he decided to resurrect the electronic pioneers and what people can expect from their headline set at London’s L.E.D Festival.

“Bringing Leftfield back is a chance for people to see Leftfield in as a contemporary context as possible,” Neil explains. “The feel of the music still seems quite current because of its electronic and indie crossover, it seems to fit in the mood of what young people are listening to at the moment. Our live shows are basically a case of putting a new slant on some of the old tunes.”

Now operating as a solo project with support from a live band, the new look Leftfield’s debut performance came earlier this year at Scotland’s Rockness festival. “It was awesome. The audience really followed the set, even though I could tell that a lot of them didn’t even know all the tunes, but they loved it,” he says. “It was our first opportunity to get our new light show up and running and that was fantastic, we got it really loud.” It’s not really surprising that the ‘L’ word pops up. In 1996, Leftfield was immersed in controversy when their powerful soundsystem caused dust and plaster to fall from roof of the Brixton Academy. Before this, audiences in Holland and Belgium demanded refunds after declaring the music ‘too loud’.

Both of Leftfield’s albums, 1995’s Leftism and 1999’s Rhythm and Stealth relied heavily on guest vocalists, calling upon names as diverse as Afrika Bambaataa and John Lydon. Who would you like to work with now? “It took me a long time to find those vocalists and a lot of soul searching . Today I’d definitely think of working with the singer of The xx who I think is really interesting. In fact, I’d like them to do a version of Original.”

There will be no new Leftfield material released, but it’s hard not to imagine what any new material could potentially sound like when Neil lists off his who’s who at the moment. “I’m listening to quite a lot of dubstep at the moment, I find it quite inspiring and different. I’m also listening to people like Martyn and I like The Knife. In fact, Karin Dreijer Andersson is someone I’d be interesting in working with. In terms of new music, I’m really in to The Darkhouse Family, the new Robert Hood album, Egyptrixx who are a mad little dubstep outfit, and Urban Tribe who are quite techno. There’s also quite a lot of reggae I like at the moment.”

Anticipation for the August 28th show in Victoria Park is high. “At L.E.D people can expect to hear Leftfield music with no compromise. There’ll be a live band – a drummer, two keyboardists, me doing stuff… loads of real instruments, loads of electronic instruments and loads of vocalists.” We can’t wait.

L.E.D Festival takes place on the 27th & 28th August at Victoria Park – London
For full line up and tickets visit www.LEDfestival.net